


NIGHTCAP

by gumscale



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Again, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bars and Pubs, Fluff and Humor, Strangers to Lovers, hueningkai blushy baby, i rest my case, just an attempt, soob is a confident gay alright, sookai gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26946727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gumscale/pseuds/gumscale
Summary: In which Huening Kai is forced to seek help from an unlikely stranger.
Relationships: Choi Soobin & Choi Yewon | Arin, Choi Soobin & Huening Kai, Choi Soobin/Huening Kai
Comments: 8
Kudos: 119





	NIGHTCAP

**Author's Note:**

> ah yes another fic of Kai being a clown. Sorry but yesterday's vlive is still living in my brain rent-free and I'm all for that confident-gay!soobin agenda.
> 
> well, as always, hope you enjoy :)

It’s precisely 23:04, almost exactly 43 minutes since he's first been dragged into the pub by his well-meaning but clueless friends, when Kai first catches a glimpse of salvation.

He’s alone at the bar, which isn't always a good sign; in Kai's experience, most people who come to pubs or clubs alone are either depressing drunks just looking for the first sap to pour their depressing life stories to – really, Kai could only listen to so many people wailing about how their little brother doesn’t love them and their pet mouse got eaten by the cat before he suggests they leave the pub together for a joint suicide – or unsuccessful lotharios, alone on the town so as not to have their pulling technique ridiculed by their friends.

Luckily, this blue-haired man doesn't seem to fit into either of these two categories.

For a start, well, he isn't crying to the bartender, which is definitely a mark in his favor. He also isn't staring morosely into his pint glass while tracing the name of his lost love with his finger onto the scratched wooden surface of the bar, which is also a plus. He isn't dressed like he’s out on the pull either. He looks more like he has just come from work, some boring office job in the city with his tight suit and slicked-back hair. If Kai has to guess, he'd say he’s probably a lawyer, or one of those men who seems to spend all day lounging in an office, ordering around blonde receptionists and exasperated brunette personal assistants without ever appearing to do any actual work themselves.

Kai doesn’t have any time to ponder. It’s now or never. This is life or death, and Kai _wants_ to live.

Crossing his fingers behind his back, he approaches the blue-haired man at the bar. He taps him on the shoulder nervously, and the man turns around. He looks rather peeved and Kai hopes he hasn't misjudged. There is always the third option; this man is some sort of semi-esque serial killer, a lunatic who hunts for his victims in crowded, dilapidated Gangnam pubs.

Kai realizes that this is not likely.

"Excuse me, um," he begins, swallowing hard and nearly choking on a mouthful of saliva. The man raises an eyebrow, his _perfect_ eyebrow, and Kai realizes that this is it; he’s either going to get mugged and killed tonight after making a complete fool of himself in front of this man, or he’s going to be forced to go home with a lunatic, depressive divorcee. He doesn't know which option is less appealing.

"Yes?" the man says, and Kai remembers that he hasn't actually said anything after 'excuse me'. Sometimes, it surprises even him that he manages to survive each 24 hour period.

"Oh, sorry. Words. Yeah. Well, this is going to sound a bit weird, and I'm sorry about that—"

"I've resigned myself to that," the man interrupts, and is that fucking _dimples?_ Fuck, no time for that. Kai presses on.

"Yeah, well, I'm here with a few of my friends—"

In a stunning example of Kai's friends' timing skills, a loud cheer is heard from the back of the pub. The man smirks, noting Kai's horrified reaction to the noise, and pulls out the stool next to him.

"I see the problem," the blue-haired, nameless man says. "Your friends are crap at being human beings and you want to start afresh in society, with a new circle of friends, preferably ones who won’t embarrass you every chance they get. I can see that I would be the most attractive option in this pub. I am, after all, incredibly rich and handsome."

Kai’s left eye twitches. Well, it looks like this guy fell into category number four; suspiciously sober, arrogant prat. Unfortunately, he’s also an incredibly rich and handsome prat, and Kai has always been irritatingly partial to those. He resigns himself to his fate and pulls the stool out a little further.

"If you keep that up, I'll knot your tie around your neck," Kai mutters, sitting down. The man grins and shrugs, picking up his almost empty pint glass and swilling the contents around.

"Go ahead. My sister bought it for me. You'd only be finishing what the pattern started," he replies. Kai chokes on thin air.

Definitely a prat.

"I'll remember that," he manages to say. "Anyway, if I may finish. My friends seem to be under the impression that I… well, need a little help, and—"

"They want you to get laid, basically," the man interjects, and Kai glares at him, meeting his eye for the first time. They are quite dark, darker than most eyes he has ever seen, and Kai makes a mental note to definitely _not_ remember that.

"If you'll stop interrupting me, I think we'll get this sorted out quickly," he continues. The man looks incredibly amused, but he does shut up, much to Kai's great relief. "Basically, yes. They've made it their mission impossible to find me someone to take home tonight, and they won't take no for an answer. Is there any way I can sit with you for a bit? Pretend that I know you, we're old friends or something, you know. Just until they get bored and stumble onwards to the next pub without me, and I can go home and eat takeaway in my pants until I fall asleep. Alone. Please. I will do anything. Well, not anything, but some things. I'll pay for your drinks, if you want. Or I'll find you some cute woman. I'm a great wingman, I've been told. Sorry. I'll be quiet now. But yeah. Help me. _Please?"_

Throughout Kai's desperate plea, the grin on the blue-haired man's face grows wider, and by the end he is trying unsuccessfully to hold back a laugh. Kai sighs. He will never get out of it at this rate. He'd wind up being dragged home with a 6ft tall woman with a beard – usually not a huge diversion from his type, apart from the downstairs area – and left alone with her outside his building, and have his wallet stolen and his groin bruised when he tried to explain the situation to her. He'd probably never have children. His friends would find that hilarious, no doubt.

"I'll do it."

It takes a few seconds for that to register. Kai looks up sharply from where he's been scratching swearwords into the bar with his fingernail.

"I'm sorry?"

"I said I'll do it," the man repeats. "You look desperate. I give millions to charity every year, but I've fallen a bit short this month, for reasons completely out of my control. You can be my karmaic rescue. You can thank me by buying me a drink."

Kai has to physically restrain himself in order to stop himself from grabbing the man and kissing him full on the mouth in gratitude.

"Thank you!" he beams, and the man rolls his eyes though he can’t hide the fond quirk of his mouth.

"Jesus, you look like a puppy," he says. "An actual puppy. With fur and legs and a tail and everything."

"I do have legs," Kai points out.

"I'm pleased for you," the man responds, smiling widely now. _He doesn't seem like such a prat after all,_ Kai thinks. He holds his hand out and the man shakes it.

"Kai," says Kai.

"No, Soobin," says Soobin.

"No, I'm Kai," says Kai.

"And I'm Soobin," says Soobin.

Kai is about to question the IQ of this man when he notices that the so called Soobin is still grinning, positively manically by now, and he sighs.

"So I'm stuck with a comedian for the foreseeable future," he says. "God bless me."

"There is no God," Soobin corrects. "And it's not for long. Your friend is here."

Kai turns around to see a drunken Yeonjun stumbling towards him, his arm around a pretty dark-haired girl, who actually seems thrilled to be in the presence of such an attractive, charming drunkard.

"Ningninnnnng!" he slurs. "This is Yeji. I like her. She's nice. I like nice people. S'why I like you, you know."

"I like you and your marvellous way with words too, Junnie-hyung." says Kai, and Soobin laughs. He has slipped easily into the role of Kai's friend, and Kai congratulates himself on choosing such a good actor for the part.

"Who's that?" Yeonjun asks, furrowing his brow in confusion and gesticulating towards Soobin. Unfortunately, he chooses to gesture with the arm that is currently wrapped around Yeji's waist, causing her to stumble forwards. Kai grabs her arm, steadying her. Yeonjun doesn't notice.

"I'm Soobin," says Soobin, apparently realizing that Kai is otherwise occupied. "Kai's friend."

Yeonjun narrows his eyes, probably attempting to look mildly threatening but instead looking as though he needs to visit an optician urgently.

"Kai's never mentioned a Soobin," he challenges. Soobin shrugs.

"Well, he wouldn't have," he says. "We haven't seen each other for… God, what is it Kai? Five years, would you say?"

"About that," Kai nods. Yeonjun looks satisfied, and begins to walk away, probably to make out with Yeji. Kai expects that would be the end of it, but Soobin clearly has other plans.

"We haven't seen each other since that incident with my sister," he sighs. Yeonjun turns around curiously. Kai looks shocked. Yeji looks bored. Soobin looks tragic.

"Y-Your sister?" Kai chokes out.

"Oh, come on, Kai. It's been years. Surely you're ready to talk about it by now?" says Soobin. "Although God knows it's not easy for me either. You broke her heart, Kai. You really did."

This is _not_ exactly going to plan, what the fuck.

Kai can do nothing but sit there, mouth unattractively agape, while Soobin continues, staring forlornly at the ceiling of the pub. Yeonjun's eyes widen. Even Yeji looks interested now.

"You broke her heart? I haven't heard any of this! What did you do?"

It’s suspicious how Yeonjun seems sober as soon as there is the chance for gossip, fuck him.

"He tore her heart out of her chest, walked all over it, then buried it in the sand along with the dog shit," Soobin carries on, a note of despair creeping into his voice. Kai feels his life expectancy shorten. Embarrassment can kill you, right? It certainly feels like it. He doesn’t think he'd have any objection to that. He rather wants the ground to open up and swallow him.

"Huening Kai!" Yeonjun exclaims, surprised. He turns to Soobin. "Who's your sister?" he asks. "Did I know her?"

Soobin nods glumly.

"Well, sort of. She's Choi Arin," he says, and if Kai doesn’t known better, he would have thought that the note of sadness in the voice of his new 'friend' is genuine.

Yeonjun's eyes are now so wide that Kai fears he would have to make that visit to the optician after all.

"You're kidding!" he cries. Soobin shakes his head. "No, but really! You're actually joking! You're having me on! You have got to be pulling my leg!"

Soobin shrugs.

"I'm not," he says flatly. "Although sometimes it feels like life is pulling mine."

Yeonjun shakes his head slowly.

"Well, Ningning," he says. "I never knew you had it in you. Soobin, fairplay for still being his friend, even after all that. You look like you genuinely like him, and all."

Kai opens his mouth to protest, but Soobin glares at him and mouths something that looks like 'fresh juice', but probably isn't. Yeonjun continues.

"Anyway, I'd love to stay and hear the whole sordid story, but Yeji and I have got… erm, a prior engagement. At – where was it?"

"The library," Yeji says, entirely unconvincingly.

"Yeah, we're getting some books out for my course. At the 24 hour library. Together."

Soobin raises an eyebrow again, and Kai's stomach did a funny thing which generally means something very bad and which he's rather not think about.

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow," he promises, hoping beyond hope that Yeonjun is too drunk to remember the conversation in the morning.

"You'd better. See you, Soobin," Yeonjun says, tightening his hold on Yeji, giving some unco-ordinated sort of salute to Soobin and walking away from a very bewildered Kai and his rather smug-looking new acquaintance.

Kai turns to look at Soobin and snarls like a ruffled chihua-hua.

"What was all that about?" he asks. "Now my friends will think I'm some sort of… I don't know. A big asshole!"

Soobin actually throws back his head and laughs. Kai doesn’t know people actually do that thing in real life. Apparently, if they are blue-haired, arrogant and annoyingly attractive, they do.

"Kai, my new oldest and dearest friend, I don't think they'll ever believe such a thing," he says. Kai sighs. He's forgotten that Soobin is also a huge, horrible prat.

"Still," he says. "Where did that come from?"

Soobin draws a happy face in the condensation on his now empty glass.

"I was doing you a favour," he says. "You're gay, right?"

Kai does that thing he always does when he’s surprised and accidentally inhaled far too much air. Soobin pats his back while he splutters.

Well, this is life-destroyingly _humiliating_.

"Why would you think that?" he eventually manages to splutter.

Soobin removes his hand from Kai's person and drums his fingers on the bar.

"Please," he says, sounding slightly offended. "You're a single male in a pub whose friends are trying to find him a girl to shag, and you're not happy about it. When looking for an escape route, you ignore the myriad of other singletons here and head straight for me, the undeniably gorgeous and evidently rich man at the bar. You also haven't heard of Choi Arin. You are by all means a raving homosexual."

Kai opens his mouth to protest the offensiveness of that remark, if not the validity of it – there isn't much point in lying now, not when he's already been so thoroughly disturbed – but he’s interrupted by Soobin for what seems like the thousandth time.

"However," Soobin continues. "Your friends were looking for a girl for you to swaps secrets and eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream with, so obviously you haven't told them that you're gay. Which is fine, don't look at me like I'm judging you or anything – I mean, I am, but it's for the haircut, not the sexuality crisis – but presumably you don't want me to out you to your clueless friend, so I invented a desperate and doomed love affair with my sister, the world famous model, to boost your reputation of rampant heterosexuality. You're welcome, by the way."

Kai stares at him, wide-eyed and wordless. Soobin grins abashedly.

"What… h-how?" he eventually asks.

"I'm just the world's best anti-wingman," Soobin responds. Kai looks at him blankly. "I'm a lawyer, kitten. I notice things. I usually get paid to do it, though, so I feel slightly used, if I'm honest."

Kai ignores him and the – smooth as heck – pet name he used for him.

"And you still don't mind sitting here with me?" he questions. "Even though, as you so eloquently put it, you're the self-proclaimed Prince Charming at the bar and I'm the lonely queer?"

Soobin smiles, slightly sadly.

"Despite popular opinion and initial appearances, I am not a massive douchebag," he replies. "Actually, I'm quite a nice guy, albeit a nice guy with abs of steel and a jawline you could use to cut glass."

Kai rolls his eyes. Soobin beams.

"You owe me a drink, by the way," he adds.

“Fine.” he sighs.

They have been drinking for just over an hour, although truthfully, not much alcohol has been consumed. It’s hard to drink a lot when you are constantly talking. At least, that is the case with Kai. Soobin hasn't said a lot. He listens patiently to Kai's rant about his flatmate, Taehyun – 'too loud in the shower, and he only eats chips, which leaves a stain afterwards, if you get my drift' – and his lamenting over the end of the relationship with his last boyfriend – 'he wanted me to start wearing a suit when I went to visit him at work, can you imagine?' – but hasn't responded with any similar anecdotes about himself.

Eventually, Kai has had enough. He is starting to worry that he sounds like one of those people who spoke so much about themselves that they actually melt the brains of all those within earshot.

"So, what about you? You mentioned you had a sister. What's she like?" he asks, and immediately regretted it as he sees Soobin stiffen, his hand curl around his glass more tightly.

"She's fine, I'm sure," he says curtly. "I wouldn't really know."

Kai knows he shouldn't pry, but the beer won't shut up.

"But she's your sister," he says. "You must know how she is!"

Soobin looks at him.

"Must I? I haven't spoken to her in over a year, Kai. There's not really a 'must' about anything."

He traces the rim of his glass and remains silent.

"I'm sorry," Kai mumbles softly, looking down at his pint glass, and Soobin sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"No, it's fine," he sighs. "You didn't ask me anything you shouldn't expect someone to answer. She's fine. I saw her on a billboard last week – at least, I think it was her, I could only see her face full of make-up and mini dress and that's not the part of my sister I'm most familiar with – so I assume she's doing all right for herself. And of course, there was the tie. She sent me that for my birthday a few weeks ago, even though my birthday is in December. It's from a designer brand though, so I suppose she's paying the rent."

Kai isn't sure how to respond to that.

"Well," he says, and doesn't say anything else.

Soobin looks at him.

"You know, I think that's the longest I've managed to get you to shut up for all night," he muses, dimpled smile coming back in full force. "Maybe I should talk about my sister's poor life choices more often."

Kai shrugs.

"Is it a poor life choice, though?" he asks meekly. He knows he’s treading on dangerous ground here, but he'd told Soobin about the time he tried to pick up a man at a bar by talking about the growth cycle of the tomato plant, so he figured the man owes him something. "I mean, some women find it empowering."

"I don't," Soobin retorts. "And neither does my father, which, coincidentally, is why she does it. You know, I don't think I'd mind if I knew she was doing it for the money, or because she enjoyed it somehow. Instead, I know she's doing it to spite our dear old dad, and that makes it rather hard to stomach somehow."

Kai is suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to hug his new friend and bury him in his plushies collection, but he thinks he might earn himself an odd look at the very least, and he rather likes how Soobin has been looking at him so far.

"I take it she doesn't get on with your dad, then."

Soobin laughs coldly at that.

"No-one does. Not even me."

Kai nods slowly. The desire to offer a hug is becoming almost too much to bear.

"I don't want to pry," he says. "But… why? I mean, blood is thicker than water, right? I can't imagine not getting on with my family."

"Then you're very lucky," Soobin responds bitterly. "If you met my father, you'd understand. He's just one of those people who it would be easier to stab repeatedly in the face and bury in a shallow grave than be polite to. Even you'd have a hard time being nice to him."

"Even me?"

"Well, you've done a pretty good job of not being a dick so far, and I've been informed that I'm more like my father than I'd care to admit."

Kai has to grin at that, and resists the impulse to say that if Soobin is anything like his father then his father can't be all that bad. If he's been about to say it, he will never get to admit it, because the bartender has other ideas, which is to have them kicked out from the pub.

After they’ve been kicked out – had they really been there for that long? Closing time seemed to get earlier and earlier these days – things grows slightly awkward. They stand around the closed doors of the pub for a few moments, Kai feeling stupidly cold in his long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. Kai feels bad leaving Soobin alone, especially as he's been the one to drag him into all this. He presumes Soobin is worried Kai might feel so lonely once he got home that he's taken a knife to his wrist or something.

Kai shivers, and Soobin tuts.

"You're going to lose a finger to frostbite if you're not careful, you idiot," he sighs, shrugging off his nice, expensive-looking coat and handing it to Kai. Kai starts to refuse the offer, but Soobin shakes his head. "In the great Rock, Paper, Scissors game of life, warm suit jacket beats thin cotton shirt," Soobin rationalizes, and Kai can't fault that logic, wrapping himself in the impossibly warm fabric. It smells nice, too. Sort of like lavender and then Kai realizes he’s essentially admiring Soobin's smell and that is _creepy_ and he really ought to _stop_.

"So," Kai says.

"Well, you paid me back," Soobin points out, smiling slightly. "I believe the deal was a lifesaving sacrifice for a drink, and I think we both honoured our ends."

Kai nods.

"I suppose we did," he says. He feels a bit odd, like he's left something important inside the pub, but that is impossible because he was Huening Kai and the most valuable thing he carries around with him is a book of stamps in case he realizes he has to send an impromptu postcard to his mother.

"You know, it feels a bit like the end of a date," Soobin says, amused. Kai feels the blood rush to his face.

"Yes, all right, you spent a few hours drinking with a homosexual," he pouts. "I'm sure it felt exactly like a date. I'll be off now to find another straight man to project all my fantasies onto. You know, I'm not so sad that I have to pretend to be on dates with everybody with a penis who happens to talk to me. I can find dates myself. I usually do, but obviously my friends don't know that, which is why they thought they needed to give me a helping hand. They didn't. Need to. Give me a helping hand, I mean. I give myself that. And not in _that_ way, so stop looking at me like that."

Soobin raises his eyebrow, and Kai really wishes he'd stop doing that before he’s forced to admit to himself that _yes_ , it’s actually quite nice to look at.

"That fortunate straight man would be the first you'd met this evening," Soobin says, and he looks like he is trying not to laugh. "Well, I can see where I made my first mistake. It's the first mistake I've made in a few years, of course, so you can see why it wouldn't sink in straightaway. Kai, I have never made a secret of the fact that I am also gay."

Kai blinks.

"You should never assume something like that about someone, Kai," Soobin scolds, but he is smiling rather a lot and Kai doesn't think he’s in trouble really so he doesn't say anything. "I mean, obviously I assumed you were gay, but I'm allowed to assume things because I am always right. It's one of my few flaws. But you, Kai, are many things, although psychic isn't one of them. I can forgive you for that, because one of the things you are is _hilarious_ , and another thing that you are probably the cutest guy I’ve met, and I could list more things but we've already spent hours talking and I have work at 9 am, which only gives me eight hours to do that, and I don't think that's enough time, really."

Kai blinks. He doesn't understand, and presumably makes this very obvious by his facial expression, because Soobin puts his hands on Kai's shoulders and looks right into his eyes and this is becoming quite awkward and lovely and surprising all at once.

Fuck, Soobin is so _close_ and it’s hard for Kai to ignore the fact that his face is turning red in an alarmingly fast rate.

"I’m actually happy that your friends tried to get you laid tonight," Soobin continues, and Kai’s face grows redder and redder. "And that they were ultimately unsuccessful, because I am going to kiss you now if that's okay, and even if it isn't, I'm going to anyway because you only live once, you know, unless you're some sort of deity because _damn_ maybe you’re one because how could a mortal look that gorgeous or—"

Kai kisses him instead.

He's about to leans back when suddenly the Soobin curls his veiny arms around his waist and then his lips are on him again and Kai’s breath catches a little in his throat because he'd always imagined it would feel weird, would feel wrong because he’s actually kissing a random stranger he met on a pub – but it doesn't. It just feels like kissing, smooth dry lips and uncertainty, and he begins to kiss back.

After a few minutes of pretending that _yes_ , he doesn’t need air and _yes_ , he can keep up with Soobin’s aggressive pace, Kai pulls away. The blue-haired man tilts his head to the left, eyes dark and searching. Kai gulps.

"Erm," he stammers. "D-Do you, perhaps, wanna date?"

With that, Soobin slams their lips together again and the rest of the night is history.

It’s only a few hours later as Kai sits in the kitchen, looking at the telephone number he's pinned onto the noticeboard and smiling rather dreamily into space, that he realizes he's never given Soobin his coat back, and that means he has have no other choice but to see him again as soon as possible in order to return it.

Fuck it, he’s gonna treat all his friends tomorrow. Including Yeonjun’s unhelpful ass.


End file.
